TNT’s media luncheon with Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Turner president of sales David Levy turned up several interesting nuggets.

Not surprisingly, a lot of attention was focused on the Knicks and if the Donnie Walsh-Mike D’Antoni Era would produce better results than Isiah Thomas did in his tenure.

Barkley said he likes the Knicks’ chances of making the playoffs this season. When a reporter pointed out that he made the same prediction last season, when the Knicks went 23-59, Barkley noted one improvement.

But seriously, Barkley said he believes the team will be improved this season under D’Antoni.

“Mike’s a terrific coach, that system is a free-flowing system,” Barkley said. “I think they have an outside shot of making the playoffs.

“One thing that annoys me about the Knicks – I am a big David Lee fan. To me, of all the players they have on the team, he is the one guy I would want to play with. I think you got questions about all the other guys. You put David Lee on a good team and he’d be really good. Just cause they got so much crap going on up here, I think they don’t appreciate him enough.”

While Barkley wants to see more of Lee, Smith would like for Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry to get more playing time. Smith, a lifelong Knicks fan, may not find a lot of other fans who agree with him. After Thomas, Marbury and Curry were the poster-children for the Knicks’ recent embarrassing seasons.

“The funny thing about New York is, are they going to play their best players?” Smith said. “Do the best players fit into their system? Regardless of what you say, Eddy Curry is one of their best players. No disrespect to Chris Duhon, Stephon Marbury is their best point guard.”

Barkley disagreed.

“Stephon Marbury may have more talent, but he’s not a better player,” Barkley said. “That’s the difference. Same thing for Eddy Curry. Every NBA player has talent, but that doesn’t make you great. It takes more than talent to be a great player. I would rather have Chris Duhon in the lineup.”

The Knicks, based on their aforementioned failures, will not appear in any of TNT’s national broadcasts this season. Their one appearance last season made them even more of a laughingstock, which not many thought was possible. A 104-59 blowout loss to the eventual champion Celtics on Nov. 29 ended any optimism that could have surrounded the team. It is a sad situation when the team from the biggest market in the country cannot land a single national game.

“It was really cool to play in New York to go into the Garden and play, but since Patrick Ewing left … they should be better,” Barkley said. “There is no excuse for what’s been going on here.”

Levy said he recently dined with Walsh and the general manager didn’t think his new team should be in the national spotlight.

“‘That’s OK, we haven’t earned it,'” Walsh told Levy. “‘We don’t deserve to be on national television.’ He knows he has work to do.”